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We wish to thank you for the opportunity of meeting with you today.
Serious issues with potentially grave consequences are being decided by the
Provincial Government without an opportunity for full public scrutiny. We
believe that only by listening to each other will business and labour rise
above the issues of potential confrontation and begin the movement
towards a more stable healthy economy.

There is an unprecedented rush towards privatization in B.C. The potential
impact of privatization of the Ministry of Highways has only recently begun
to receive the attention it deserves. It will endanger public health and
safety, and will jeopardize our families' right to high quality public
services,

We believe that giving away our children's heritage is no way to conduct
the business of government. The economics of highways maintenance must
also be considered. Highways maintenance, if done by a private operator,
must inelude, in its cost Structure, a provision for profit. The profit which
any private operator would expect can only be made on the basis of one of
two types of contracts.

The first type of contract is a cost-plus arrangement. The Coquihalla was
built on such an arrangement and it resulted in a $320 million overrun on a
$250 million project cost. Obviously, a cost-plus arrangement is virtually
impossible to control from a budget point of view.

The other type of contract for a private operator is a fixed budget contract
that includes a fixed amount for cost and a fixed amount of profit. Such a
contract provides no flexibility for unusual occurences such as floods, extra